Can I Sit Here?
by amayo-demayo
Summary: Poor Balloon sits alone at lunch, every day. Until one day, he's not so alone. / Inanimate Insanity/Suitloon! / One-shot.


**prompt-****_"can i sit here? the other tables are full."_****high school au!!**

**~.~**

Another day, another lonelyhour for our poor redhead.

Balloon was definitely not the most popular of students; despite him coming back from his nasty past and proving himself a better person, he was still seen as 'the jerk', 'the freak', 'the "insert very over complicated yet scarily accurate and hurtful insult here (likely courtesy of Nickel)'". So, he sat alone at lunch. Partly because he kind of wanted to, but mostly because nobody would even think of coming near him, much less _sitting next to him._

If he was any kind of popular, it was for _all_ the wrong reasons.

It hurt, it really did. He tried so hard, he _knew_ he'd become a better person. He hated his past and wanted to leave it all behind. But it seems things don't really work that way. First impressions really do matter, more than Balloon could ever imagine, because three years since his big reformation he was still being treated like an asshole.

So yeah, maybe he'd cry a bit into his tray or enviously watch his fellow classmates from across the cafeteria - Baseball and Nickel in particular, as they were so friendly together yet so _rotten_ to him that he couldn't help but wonder how such bright smiles could carry such venom - but in the end he had every right to. He was a bit broken, a little damaged, some parts depressed. But that's high school, he supposed. Everyone's a little hurt, right?

Today, as he pondered in sad silence at his lonely table, he barely noticed the shy form of a girl standing across from him. Only when she gave a quiet, "Excuse me?" did he perk up, wiping his eyes in case of any tears, and really see her.

She was a rather short, stocky girl; her curly brown hair was made up in short, messy pigtails and her skin was a hazelnut tan. She wore a loosely fitting sweater, a nice light brown skirt and yellow suspenders, and black stockings complete with white mary-janes. And, most notably, her eyes were a dazzling emerald green.

Needless to say, Balloon was in shock.

Not just because a (very, _very_) pretty and nice-looking girl was standing in front of him, looking at him, acknowledging his existence, but also because _nobody_ ever talked to him at lunch. _Ever_. Not even to insult him. (Which was pretty sad, if you thought about it.) At first he didn't really believe it. He actually pinched himself under the table to make sure that he wasn't imagining things. But she was there, live and in the room. And she was looking pretty troubled, at that.

So Balloon put on his best smile (which wasn't very good, to be honest,) and spoke. "H… Hi."

The girl put on a lopsided smile. '_God, she's probably gonna laugh at me or something, I sounded stupid, didn't I-_' his mind immediately went in all different negative directions, but he stopped himself before it went too far. And instead, he listened.

"Hi… Um, I'm so sorry to bother you, uh…" Her voice was quiet, a bit high pitched (though still lower than his own, _go figure,_) and held an accent he couldn't quite place. "Can… Can I sit here? The other tables are full…"

He nearly fell out of his seat. Not only did she _look_ at him, _walk up_ to him, _talk_ to him, and try to _smile_ at him, she actually asked to _sit_ with him. As in, be _near_ him. As in, sit _across_ from him. His mind shifted gears, going from "just be chill" to "what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck" in a matter of milliseconds.

He didn't want to leave her hanging! But at the same time, his brain wasn't working good. Call him dramatic, but he couldn't remember a recent time where somebody was this kind to him. Or maybe he just misinterprets any type of non threatening interaction with him as kindness. Either way, it was new.

"I-I'm sorry…" He snapped out of his brain malfunction to see her shift a bit, preparing to turn and leave. "Should I not have-?"

"Oh, no, no no no!" Balloon protested, stopping her in her tracks. She looked a bit shaken, he slowed down. "No, sorry, uh… Y-Yeah, yeah you can."

"Oh… Oh!" Her face lit up, her smile flashing like gold. Balloon's heart did a strange _*hop*_ in his chest. "Thank you…" She placed her tray on the table and slowly sat down, looking carefully at her surroundings.

Balloon let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as she visibly calmed, and he couldn't be any more relieved. _'Oh thank god oh thank god oh thank god- she probably thinks I'm a weirdo but y'know what? It's ok. She's sitting, she's calm, she's ok, it's ok-'_

They sat quietly for a while, picking at their food and taking quick glances at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking. It was awkward to say the least, painful to Balloon's anxiety-ridden heart to say the _most_. But she seemed… ok with him. Which was a good sign. A _different_ sign.

Not thinking, he began, "I'm-" he almost stopped himself, but stopping mid-sentence is awkward, and what if it puts her on edge, and what if she thinks he's weird, and what she leaves because he's being creepy, and oh god-

"I'm… Balloon."

She smiled. "I'm Suitcase. Nice to meet you."

"Oh."

_'"Oh"? "Oh"?! That's the best you could do?! Say something else, dimwit-! no don't she's talking-'_

"I'm, uh… I'm new here. I moved from Australia not long ago."

_'Australia…'_ So that's the accent.

"O-Oh, well, uh," He spoke in his obnoxiously high voice (_'come on, my voice isn't that bad-!' 'it's awful, you're grating her ears! she's gonna leave, you know.' _), "Welcome to II High!"

"Th-Thank you." Her cheeks took on a pink tint. "I'm kind of nervous. A little scared, if I'm honest. Until now, I've been homeschooled…"

_'Honey, you've got a big storm comin'.' _

"Yeah, I… I get that. It's really tough. But we- we can get through it! Together!" He held out his hand, some hope that she'd return the gesture, and he'd make some kind of connection…

_'Wow, forceful much? You're trying too hard. She can tell. She's going to-'_

To his surprise, she eagerly took his hand, nodding with purpose. "Y-Yeah… Together!"

_'Holy shit.'_

He did it. He started something. He had… a friend? Does she count? He likes to think she does. Otherwise, why was he feeling so jittery? And floaty, lighter than air (haha), so many butterflies flittering about in his heart. She wanted to be friends with him… he nearly cried at the thought. The mere possibility that anybody, after so long of being shunned and attacked for the guy he was and wishes he never knew, would _ever_ want to connect with him.

"By the way, I… I like your voice! It's unique… Don't tell me it's natural."

Balloon hesitated in answering, a bit scared of the response, "It… It is."

"Really!" Suitcase responded, a bit flabbergasted. "That's so neat! If you don't mind, I'd... like to know a bit more about you."

He felt himself genuinely smile. Something he hadn't done in a _pathetically_ long time. "Ok, sure…! As long as you tell me more yourself, too."

"O-Ok! Deal!"

**~.~**

**rushed n ooc ending cause writing is hard and i really wanted to finish this****anyway suitloon is my reason for living****i can't find a lot of suitloon content so i gotta make it myself****the only problem is im shit at writing n drawing n all that creativity stuff so uhh F****anyway uhh i hope you liked it!! i'm actually a little proud of it so!!**


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